Heavy-duty machinery, whether it be transport vehicles, construction devices, planes, etc., all require vigilant maintenance to ensure peak if not safe performance. Lubricating fluids are utilized to a great extent within such machinery to allow for proper and reliable gear movement, piston utilization, transmission reliability, and the like. If such a fluid is depleted to an appreciable level, the performance of the subject vehicle may be compromised and the overall effectiveness, if not safety, thereof may be drastically reduced, too. Thus, there is a constant need to provide a safe, reliable, and, hopefully, “clean” way to monitor such fluid levels. Typically, engineering has not taken into effect such a monitoring factor when designing component machinery parts of this type. Although there are manners and methods to undertake such fluid measurements, these are generally taxing on the user (i.e., in difficult to reach places) and thus require great dexterity to undertake or normally require a “messy” act to first reach the specific location and then to actually provide the measurement capability thereafter.
For instance, the traditional way of determining fluid levels in a large majority of heavy-duty commercial gear housings is to begin by removing the factory fill plug. Typically, the measurement step involves the undesirable insertion of one's own index finger into the plug location opening on the housing to the level that fluid is actually found within the reservoir. Thus, the distance the fluid registers in relation to the user's first knuckle has been one possible way of determining the fluid levels present therein. By any standard, such a measurement method is not “clean” and may not be terribly reliable either. With a usual determination that the registration of fluid on one's finger indicates a fluid level within a safe operational range, it is evident that there is a need to provide greater reliability and less “messy” a method for measurement purposes of this type. Needless to say, such a finger-based measurement may transfer contaminants, such as dirt and grime, not only into the lubricating fluid itself, but the user must undertake a cleaning regimen after each procedure of this sort to ensure their own safety. The delicate nature of a typical gear system militates against a measurement protocol that undertakes such a jeopardizing “finger test” because of these contaminant potentials. Yet, despite these issues, there have been scant few suggestions that have been attractive enough for machinery operators and users to avoid such a simple, albeit, questionable monitoring process. Although there are externally provided devices that allow for introduction and immersion within such machinery reservoirs to measure fluid levels (such as metal dipsticks that are stored outside the reservoir, vessel, manifold, etc.), such devices are just as susceptible to contamination possibilities as the “finger test” procedures. Any time an external implement is introduced within such a fluid container, in other words, the overall potential for contaminant introduction within such delicate machinery is increased. As such, there remains a significant desire within the heavy machinery industry, at least, to provide a suitable way to avoid external implement introduction for lubricating fluid measurement purposes. The ability to do so with a device or article that may be provided as a proper add-on for contaminant prevention rather than intrusion through its presence would be highly prized as well. To date, such a device has yet to accorded the heavy machinery industry.